Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended charging taxpayers for his travel expenses to participate in sporting events and lead the Pollie Pedal charity bike ride.

Mr Abbott and some of his frontbenchers have recently repaid travel claims they made to attend the weddings of politicians and media figures.

Department of Finance documents also show Mr Abbott claimed $349 in travel allowance and $941 for flights to compete in an ironman event in the New South Wales city of Port Macquarie in 2011.

"I believe that all of my claims have been within entitlement," Mr Abbott told the media on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Bali.

"Let's not forget that Port Macquarie was a marginal seat, effectively. I want to assure you that I don't go to marginal seats simply for sporting events, although the sporting event in question was a community event.

"I think you'll find there were quite a few other community events involved in those visits."

But acting Opposition Leader Chris Bowen says the claim is not legitimate and he has urged Mr Abbott to pay back the money.

"It's good Mr Abbott tries to keep fit and does keep fit, but if he chooses to participate in an ironman event, that is in my view pretty clearly a personal issue - a personal expense - not something the taxpayer should be asked to cover," he said.

Pollie Pedal a 'serious act of community engagement'

Quizzed about claiming travel expenses during his annual Pollie Pedal rides, Mr Abbott described the bike trips as a "perfectly legitimate" travel expense.

"Pollie Pedal is a very intense engagement with the community," he said.

"The great thing about Pollie Pedal is it takes me to towns, communities, sometimes hamlets that rarely see a politician."

Even though he is now Prime Minister, Mr Abbott says he will still be leading the cross-party charity ride again this year.

The 1,000-kilometre event takes several days and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for nominated charity groups.

"I invite every one of you to go back, to look at the program for this Pollie Pedal previous Pollie Pedals and ask yourself the question - is this a frolic or is this a very serious act of community engagement?" he said.

"I think you'd have to conclude, if you are fair dinkum, this is a very serious act of community engagement."

Albanese questions why Slipper treated differently

The Prime Minister also last week repaid about $1,700 he had claimed to travel to the weddings of former colleagues Sophie Mirabella and Peter Slipper in 2006.

The Coalition vigorously pursued the former LNP MP and speaker of the house last year over his alleged misuse of Cabcharge vouchers to visit Canberra wineries.

Mr Ruddock says he was only at the wedding because he was the attorney-general at the time, and Mr Slipper was the then chairman of a legal committee.

"I have thought about it overnight and quite frankly my judgment at the time was that what I did was appropriate and I still think it was appropriate," he said.

Mr Abbott has said he was prompted to act on his claims after Attorney-General George Brandis last week repaid nearly $1,700 he had claimed from the taxpayer to attend the wedding of radio announcer Michael Smith in 2011.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has also repaid $615 for using a taxpayer-funded car to attend the same wedding.

Senator Michael Ronaldson has been given the task of drawing up a code of conduct for Coalition MPs.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has officially commissioned a review of Indigenous training and employment programs which will be chaired by mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest.

"I think this does offer a new beginning to Indigenous people who want to have a serious career in the private sector," Mr Abbott said.